We build this PC

*True story, I have "We build this City" stuck in my head*

My husband has needed me to put in a new hard drive for his desktop for a while. (For so long, I honestly forgot he gave the tower and drive to his brother to install it.) I work a lot, and so does his brother, needless to say, his brother has had the tower for 18 months, it was still not done.

I last upgraded this computer 18 months ago,before the Hard drive got corrupted somehow. Bought a new power supply, and graphics card, no big deal. I set it up on Thursday night, and realized, this this was maybe more outdated than I thought, I should have guessed it was, as the RAM was still DDR2 ( don't judge, it was built like 10 years ago originally, it worked for Diablo 2, and Facebook). Other than needing up graded, when something sits open for like 2 years, it gets dirty Af.

  The Inputs and outputs were also gone, and most of the UBS ports were just dead and out dated, I think only the front two were even 2.0. No 3.0 or 3.1 was even on this old PC. Once I seen the mess, and how out dated it was, I knew we had to get some new parts going.

We headed to Micro Center and picked up a new Mother Board, Case, Fans, Solid State Drive, some LED's for the inside, new Processor, and new RAM. (only 8 gigs that day, as they only had one left :'( ). Got it all home, and then started gutting the old PC while my two toddlers ran around and my 10 year old helped me disassemble and clean when we were keeping. She was also completely disgusted with the inside of the old PC, and decided she no longer wanted this one in her room when I got a new power supply. She wanted to build a whole new one with me as well. 

 

 

 

Wasn't too bad to get out what I wanted, I didn't even notice initially that the new case did not have a place for the DVD/Blue-ray drive, which doesn't matter, as all our stuff is digital down load anyhow, but it has been SO long since I put one together, all i could think of was "WTF am I going to get the OS on here". Father in law to the rescue, USB.... duh...... total blonde moment.

It only took about an hour and a half to get everything put together and ready to go. We had my father in law look over it before we booted up. I think mostly because my Husband did not trust I had built a PC before, and he wanted to make sure "It's doesn't like, you know, blow up". hahaha, which was just funny to me.

 

 

I ran back for three more fans on Friday, and installed them Friday night. I figured since I could fit two more on top I would, and I also forgot the rear fan.  

Over all we had a great time building a new PC, and everything works great!

IT Careers in the age of Technology

             There are many careers that focus on IT in today’s world of technology, one of the larges growing and ever evolving IT careers is Health Care IT. When I used to think of healthcare IT, I would imagine your typical tech guy, making sure the computers are working, replacing the keyboards or switching out an older monitor, todays IT in healthcare is so much more. When it comes to IT in the world of healthcare you have your Electronic medical record, which everyone from Nurses, Doctors, secretaries, and even lab and imaging techs will use to document patient care. You also have those who build, maintain, and oversee the day to day functions of the Electronic medical record. There are also those who train end users, super users and support staff whose only role is to be elbow support for the clinicians who will focus on patient care and use the electronic medical record. Training and support are my main job in Healthcare IT, sometimes I work locally, other times I travel from state to state, assisting with training, support and implementation of the electronic medical record (EMR). Other roles in Healthcare IT include those who work in project management, security including access to the computers, networks, and various locations within the hospital, without the growing need for companies to become more involved with technology, these jobs might never exist. “The success of healthcare depends critically on the utilization of information technology capability and innovative capability to collect, analyze, and exchange knowledge within and across organizational boundaries.” (Hui-chuan & Cates, 2018).

The biggest goal to my job at any location, is to identify those who are strong computer users, and excel with the EMR, after a few weeks of support and encouragement, they will become super users for their location, and they will take over my role when they leave. They become the designated IT help support on the floor, or in the office once all the ancillary support has left to their next implementation of another EMR. “Theoretically, work practices that promote employee involvement, discretion (defined as the extent to which employees are provided with professional autonomy and decision making authority), teamwork, training, and staffing are likely to affect the acquisition and transfer of new knowledge within the organization, thereby influencing IT learning.” (Avgar, Tambe & Hitt, 2018).  By helping current staff to engage in the new system, it creates a new role for them in the work place, which in my experience is very exciting, and they are more receptive to learn the EMR, and help others. They share their take on what they have learned, teach short cuts, and really stream line their workflows in a new way, as it is a project for them to grab hold of, and make their own. This improves patient safety, efficiency, and overall quality of care.

The Electronic medical record is not only beneficial to hospital staff, but it is also there to protect the patient by maintaining their complete health information. This information can be accessed by those who are in direct care of the patient and be electronically sent to those who will care for the patient after they are discharged from the hospital. Care providers can share this health information with one another, to better care for their patient. Anderson,  Campbell, Mahoney, Muther, Nevin, Resnik & Steinberg, T had the right idea when they started their research in Information technology improving long term patient care, they concluded that “Care Link IT functions can be replicated to address the unique longitudinal care needs of any population.” Any healthcare facility can adapt and implement an electronic medical record to enhance patient care, drive more jobs into the area, and better the knowledge of their employees in the world of IT.

Information technology continues to grow across many industries, in Healthcare they are working on new EMR customization's to better assist in patient care. Hospitals regularly upgrade computers and office equipment that interfaces with the EMR, from scanners and faxes, to secure messaging applications which can be used for physicians to text over orders to the RNs. The need for these constant improvements, system upgrades and so forth is also fueling the IT job market on what seems to be a daily basis. As the need increases for hospitals to become more advanced, and further implement technology, IT careers continue to be on the rise especially for those who work in network security. They need to be on high alert for those who want to hack into the hospitals network and gain access to patient information, which is safeguarded by the EMR. Users need system credentials to gain access to the network and the EMR just to view and enter information on patients.

 References

Anderson, S., Campbell, M., Mahoney, D., Muther, A. K., Nevin, J., Resnik, P., & ... Steinberg, T. (2017). Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality at the Local Level: Innovative Information Technology–Powered Population Health Care Management Improves Outcomes and Reduces Hospital Re-admissions and Emergency Department Visits. The Joint Commission Journal On Quality And Patient Safety, 43330-337. doi:10.1016/j.jcjq.2017.04.002

Avgar, A., Tambe, P., & Hitt, L. M. (2018). BUILT TO LEARN: HOW WORK PRACTICES AFFECT EMPLOYEE LEARNING DURING HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION. MIS Quarterly, 42(2), 645-659. doi:10.25300/MISQ/2018/13668

Christie Hui-chuan, C., & Cates, T. (2018). The Role of Information Technology Capability and Innovative Capability: An Empirical Analysis of Knowledge Management in Healthcare. International Management Review, 14(1), 5-16.

LaRose, R., Rifon, N. J., & Enbody, R. (2008). PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for INTERNET SAFETY. Communications Of The ACM, 51(3), 71-76. doi:10.1145/1325555.1325569

National Cyber Security Alliance. Emerging Internet Threat List, 2006; www.staysafeonline.info/basics/Internetthreatlist06.html.

Pickering, C. M. (2018, June 10). My Introduction to Technology. Retrieved June 27, 2018, from https://carolannpickering.blogspot.com/

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/

Post #6 – Network Security

Information and System Security

Everyone should always be aware of their surroundings when they move about on this Earth, as we all leave being foot prints wherever we go. You would leave out a bank statement, your social security card, or other personal information for someone else to pick up and use. Using the internet is much the same, although we are not physically moving about the internet, we are digitally traveling the web, and still leaving behind a digital fingerprint. “A person walking leaves physical footprints. Similarly, a user on the Internet leaves electronic footprints.” (Vahid & Lysecky, 2017). This electronic footprint leaves behind little bit of data, and if you are not careful, this data can be used against you. Scammers are always looking for new ways to gain access to your personal information using cloned sites, phishing e-mails, viruses, or simply stealing your passwords to get the information they want. It’s imperative to safe guard your information, and be safe while using the internet, knowing what that is out there is a threat is helpful. Knowing the possible threats, you may face is helpful in being proactive and choosing safeguards for your home computer, cell phones, and other electronic devices.
Often many people use the web with the mentality of “it will never happen to me”, seemly unaware that it has already, or is right around the corner. “Low amounts of fear diminish safety, because the threat is not seen as important enough to address. However, intense fear can also inhibit safe behavior, perhaps because people suppress their fear rather than cope with the danger.” (LaRose, Rifon & Enbody, 2008). As many people do not have the fear something will happen to them, they often do not have safe practices of internet safety like updating virus protection, malware scans, or even routinely changing their passwords. Updating passwords routinely can help prevent against stolen information, many companies require routine password changes every so many days. At my current job, it is every 120 days, I cannot use the same password with in the last ten changes. My password must contain and uppercase and lower-case letter, a number, and a distinctive character. Adding numbers, special characters and upper/lowercase letters makes for a very strong password, as most passwords are now case sensitive.
Employers urge their employees to also maintain safe internet practices often by blocking downloads onto work PCs, as well as restricting sites which contain click bait, are known for Phishing, or are in general unsafe or inappropriate for the workplace. Since most often we do not have the same strict policies at home, it should become one of our best practices to take note of what we are clicking on, and what sites we are redirected to, as there are no safeguards like in our workplace to stop out personal PC from making a connecting with a malicious site. A malicious site can come from a link on a reputable site, like a news outlet or even Facebook. Facebook is known for their “fun” quizzes that pop up in our newsfeeds like “find out what super hero you are”, “What is your inner color”, “who were you in a past life?”, all seem like innocent fun, but to take the quiz and post on your page, you must allow them specific permissions to your information, such as to post to your page on your behalf, your friends list, pictures, past posts, and if you are using your cell phone, often they might ask for permission to use your contacts, or camera and microphone. Many do not read this, and just click yes and next on each item to take the quiz, which now invites those on the other end of the connection full access to your information via Facebook. We have our own personal responsibility to read and really think about what we are clicking on, to be safe on the internet. “Among all of the factors we have discussed, personal responsibility, self-efficacy, and response efficacy were the ones most related to intentions to engage in safe online behavior.” (LaRose, Rifon & Enbody, 2008).
To engage in safe online behaviors is to be aware of your surrounding always while navigating the web. Know what pages you are visiting, when clicking on a link, read if it is asking for permission, and never type in your passwords or personal information unless you know it is a trusted site. Be careful when making online perches as well, as some hackers mirror reputable sites to get you to type your credit card or banking information, for them to then steal and use as they so please. You don’t need to be so scared that you never use the internet again, or refrain from buying online, however it is very important to maintain internet safety and know where you are digitally walking around and leaving behind footprints.


References
LaRose, R., Rifon, N. J., & Enbody, R. (2008). PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for INTERNET SAFETY. Communications Of The ACM, 51(3), 71-76. doi:10.1145/1325555.1325569
National Cyber Security Alliance. Emerging Internet Threat List, 2006; www.staysafeonline.info/basics/Internetthreatlist06.html.
Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/

Post #5 – Computers in the Workplace

"In Post #5, you will describe the functions of computers in your chosen industry, based on your
current understanding of IT, your experience with that industry, and any additional research as
necessary. Explain why it is important for employees in this type of environment to be computer
literate. Considering the historic trends of computing, forecast how evolutions in computer
hardware, operating systems, and networking will impact your chosen industry over the next ten
years."

I have chosen to use Information Technology in the Health Care field, as this is something I am very familiar with. When it comes to Healthcare IT, it is becoming more and more important for individuals to be computer literate as time goes by.  Gone are the days of learning on the fly, as you tend to patients on the floor, writing down your vitals, events, or tracking of patient care. Providers no longer have the option to call out orders to their nurses or medical assistant or call up the pharmacy for a dropped dose of medication. Everything must be kept track of in the Electronic Medical record, this includes orders, notes, vitals, patient information and other data. If a medication is dropped or wasted, it must be documented as such, right down to if it is a waste that is charged to the patient, or a cost the hospital will cover. Most hospital policies are to “document in real time”, meaning you bring a computer to the bedside, and speak with your patient and chart on the computer, as if it were writing in the paper chart. Often, this is not possible, so times entered will be changed to reflect the time a task was performed, or time data was taken. Even changing the date to reflect this information on the screen, will not change the actual time entered into the system, as all this data is stored on the backend, unable to be seen, or changed by the users. This is helpful in court cases to prove or disprove medical malpractice, and often saves the lives of patients, while protecting hospital staff if they followed proper procedures. It is very important to be computer literate because using the EMR goes beyond simply being able to surf the web or write a document in word. They need to be able to understand the difference between right and left mouse clicks, logging out of the systems versus suspending the application. Many facilities use Single Sign On, which allows them to tap on to the workstation computer, and sign into all of their work applications including their email, payroll, EMR and others. Simply logging off of the EMR does not log them off the workstation, they need to “tap out”, if they do not, they risk all of their personal work applications being tampered with. Spelling also counts in most EMRs, knowing how to use spell check can really help, especially if you are using acronyms.

Post #4 – Traveling Through a Network

"In Post #4, you will describe how packets travel through the network, based on your experience
using the ping and traceroute commands. Compare the ping and traceroute results from the
different websites and explain how the paths to the different destinations differ. Make a
conclusion about the relationship between the roundtrip time and geographical location.
Explain how the ping and traceroute commands can be used to troubleshoot Internet connection
problems. Give at least two possible reasons why a ping request or traceroute command might
time out or return with an error message."

This week we learned about the line of communication a computer has with the internet, and what Ping and Tracer routes are. Per our text, Dodge & Zook state that “A computer communicates via the Internet by sending a packet, containing information like an address for a destination computer, the data size, and the data itself (email message, web page, piece of video, etc.).” When you send out packets of information, it is called “Ping”. “PING stands for “Packet Internet Groper.” Pinging an IP address or website means sending small packets of information out to a specific IP address and requesting a response from the recipient, such as typing in google or Facebook into your address bar to take you to either of those sites. Additionally, you could also use your bookmarks to take you to those web pages, both will have the same result, we would send the request out by pinging that web address and waiting for the response. If the address is bad, or there is an error, we would not be taken to the webpage for example. “Running a traceroute, also called tracert on some operating systems, means sending small packets of information out to a specific IP address and documenting the path that the packets take as they travel there.” I use this when I use my VPN to establish a remote connection to my work computer, as I am requesting to go to a specific IP address and computer to gain access to the things I need for work.

References:

Dodge, M., & Zook, M. (2009). Internet-based measurement. The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography: Elsevier. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4492/0ad7004b93cd485731f56de3abe3e19200a7.pdf

INT100_GuideToPing%20and%20Traceroutes.pdf

Post #3 – Documenting a Day

A day in the life of Carolann

I picked a crappy day to track my daily routine, but as of late this is how a lot of my days end up. I woke up at 5:40am to get ready for work, but laying in bed for 20mins, checking my emails, Facebook and then logging on to PokemonGO while I grabbed my clothes. At 6:15 I was dressed and putting on my make-up and then my husband woke up to see me off to work. I decided it would be nice to leave a bit early and get coffee and breakfast for my husband and the kids. At 6:40am I left my house to stop at McDonalds, which didn’t take long at all, as I was back home and handing off food by 7am, I then left again to drive to work. I got to the highway at 7:08am, and I realized there was no way I was going to make it into work, I didn’t realize when I first started drink my coffee, but my body knew in just less than 15mins I had cream and sugar in there. Some things to note:

·         I used to drink the sugar filled coffee from there and Starbucks all the time, and I have only recently eliminated sugar from my diet.

·         I had gastric bypass in December, and I can no longer process more than 3g of sugar at a time.

·         I’ve lost 130lbs since December 21^st, 2017, and I feel awesome about that, but a lot of my day I spend sleeping because I got sick from food.

·         Once I get dumping syndrome I am pretty much only able to drink water for 72hrs while my body resets.

·          I’m still getting used to this, as I never know if a food or drink is going to make me sick.

Before I turned on the highway, I had already gotten sick, and felt like I was going to die. This was dumping syndrome, joy. I parked my car on a side street until I could chug a bottle of water to flush my system, since I cannot hold more than 4oz of anything at a time, it generally just makes me sick, but I needed to get the coffee out of my system. I pulled back in my drive way at 7:30am, and started writing an email to my boss, to let her know I could not sit in on class today, but I would work remote from home to finish the PowerPoint for the other instructors. I went inside, changed my clothes, cried until my stomach pills and pain pill kicked in, and passed out by 8am. I woke up at 1pm, with a horrible migraine, most likely from throwing up and also taking the pain medication, so I took a migraine pill which unfortunately also makes me sleep, and I slept from 1:30pm until 5pm. I must have woken up a few times here and there, as I drank 3 bottles of water while sleeping, but I don’t remember. At 5pm I started making dinner, which my husband ended up finishing, as just sampling the noodles to see if they were done made me sick. At 6pm I sat down with my family while they ate dinner, we watched the original Jurassic Park, and my two-year-old kept trying to keep the dinosaurs his dinner so they wouldn’t eat him, he also offered his sister Aerith to them as a snack but told them not to eat Zoey because she gives him string cheese, it was adorable. Around 8pm I started and finished my PowerPoint for work and emailed it at 10pm. At 10:15, I started thinking back on the day, and realized, I really picked a dreadful day to write about, however tomorrow and Sunday will be more of the same. Normally I play my PokemonGo game with my husband and kids Saturday and Sunday as we go out with others, walk around hang out at the Zoo or a park or two, but this weekend I will spend it bed, staying hydrated and not passing out like last time.

Post #2 – Web/Mobile App Critique

"In Post #2, you will write a review of a web/mobile app that you are familiar with. Or, if you are
not familiar with any web or mobile app, you may select one from the list provided in your text to
explore and review.
Evaluate the app’s usability, design, and functionality. Use screenshots to show how the app
works. Propose at least three recommendations for improvements."

The mobile app I have chosen to review is Pokémon GO, which is a mobile gaming application. I chose a mobile game, as this is one application I use daily, which doesn’t revolve around me using it for work or school, because let’s face it, I use my phone 24/7. My phone is always doing something for me, even when I am sleeping, by connecting to my fitness tracker and monitoring my sleep, counting my steps while I send emails while walking into work, or playing music through my stereo for me while I drive to/from work. Pokémon GO is the only application I have on my phone which is a game, and not used for fitness, work, school or to organize my life, it’s simply to relax with my kids and go around playing. If you are not familiar with this Application, it is “an augmented reality (AR) game developed by Niantic for iOS and Android devices” (Pokémon). My first screenshot is that of the game AR, the augmented reality of the game, puts the Pokémon in our world.

The game is very easy to play and understand, much like all other Pokémon games, the objective is to “Catch ‘em all”, all the Pokémon. If you are not familiar with Pokémon, there are a lot, over 800 currently in the on-going show which they have divided into 8 different generation in the mobile app game. So far, in game, there are 3 almost complete generation available, and a few from Generation 8 which they randomly released last week during the announcement of the next Pokémon game for the Nintendo Switch. The game itself can be played completely on your own, it is free, however there are the options to perches premium play items, including raid passes which allow you to battle stronger Pokémon in groups, and then the ability to catch them as a reward if you beat them in the raid. The more people you get together in a group to raid, the easier and faster the raid goes. There are 5 levels to raiding, 1 being the easiest and you can generally do it on your own, and 5 being the hardest and most often you need at least 4 to beat the raid, if everyone in your group is max level, which is 40 currently. I have provided screen shots of the Pokémon storage, store where you can buy premium items, and the character in the next 3 screenshots.

Overall, as you can tell I really enjoy this app. It reminds me of my childhood, when I used to watch the show and play the trading card game. Since the show is still airing new episodes, and the cards are still being played, it also allows for me to have something to do with my kids, as they are technology and Pokémon obsessed. Niantic has done a pretty good job of making the Pokémon really come to life in the game. I do have my very decent list of complaints about the app, but I will start with what they have done well. The bugs in the programing which were very frequent the first few months of the games launch have since been fixed, and the development team is quick to fix current issues. I like that we have weekly/monthly events available in the app, which allows for special items to be claimed with out buying them, even though I know my family and I spend a gross amount of money on this game. They also hold real life events once a month, called Community Day. Community day is once a month on a Saturday from 2pm to 5pm, and it has increased spawn (the amount of Pokémon that appear in game) rates, and they choose a new one each month for it, and it will have the option to appear “Shiny”, which in this game, is a pretty big deal, finding a Pokémon that is Shiny almost never happens, it’s super rare, and we check for them all the time. This is one of my complaints about the app, the spawn areas around me a great, so I am not affected when it comes to low spawns, or areas where there are not a lot of players. However, there are many areas where Pokémon just do not spawn, there are no Gyms to raid at, and there are barely any Pokéstops to go to and spin for free Items. More or less; if you live in a small town, you need to go into a bigger city to play. Secondly, there is no way to talk to other players in the game, which when you are trying to do team tasks, like raiding, you need to be able to communicate.

As for optimizations for this App, I won’t get into the typical gamer requests of “We need to be able to trade with one another!!”, I just want to be able to chat in game with my Raid group. I hate that I must use another app to talk to my group to get stuff done, we use Discord or Facebook messenger, which work, but I’d rather stick to one app to play. I also would like to see more levels added to the game, a lot of people have been Maxed out on their level since the first year of the release, we are coming up on the second anniversary, and I think we need to be able to get to at least 50, personally I’d like to see 100, but my raid group thinks that is too high, and unobtainable for most. I haven’t hit 40 yet, but I will be there by the end of summer. They could use more moves and information from the show and card game, often the move sets the Pokémon have are not what they could be or should be, or the damage they do is incorrect according to all other games Nintendo put out. It would also be nice to see other trainers on the map while playing, which would go back to them implementing a chat of some sort in the app. In the Nintendo DS games, you can find other trainers in game and battle them, you can battle with friends, however in Pokémon GO, you can only have co-op in raid battles not one on one battling to prove who is the best, which is what the Trading card game was about, and all other games before this one. I’ll keep playing even without these improvements, as I’d like to see where the game goes, and like I said, it’s an escape and it takes me back to my childhood. I know it looks weird when myself and 15 other grown people pull up to a virtual gym and 530pm in the afternoon and we all get out of our cars, talking and laughing with one another. It’s fun, and generally it seems more adults ages 26 to 40 play this game, that kids and teens, and I love it!

References:

Films On Demand - Embedded Content - Mobile App Research and Planning. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2018, from https://fod.infobase.com/OnDemandEmbed.aspx?Token=47489&aid=18596&Plt=FOD&loid=0&w=640&h=480&ref

Films On Demand - Embedded Content - Mobile App Development and Deployment. (n.d.). Retrieved June 6, 2018, from https://fod.infobase.com/OnDemandEmbed.aspx?Token=47490&aid=18596&Plt=FOD&loid=0&w=640&h=480&ref

Pokémon Go. (2018, June 07). Retrieved June 7, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon_Go

Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing technology for all. Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com/

This is A Pokémon I happened to be catching today, after winning a raid battle with part of the raid group I play with. A few people in the group are in the background.

I am actually being laughed at right now for being in my car and not socializing. It’s 3:50pm on a Thursday and I am working remotely from my car, rather than my office, because at 4pm today, this guy goes anyway in the game, until they think of a random reason to release it again. Since another Pokémon is being release at 4pm, and has the new option to be Shiny, myself husband, and raid group will be doing this until raiding ends around 730pm.

You can customize your character and choose who they walk with, since I need the candies for this little guy, I am walking with him, to earn the candies to level him up.

This isn’t the main screen, but the options screen more or less, you can see what Items you have in your bag, look to see what Pokémon you have in your storage, or go to the shop and buy Items to use in game.

You need raid passes to raid, you get one free one a day, by going to a Gym, and spinning the stop there. You can only hold one free pass, but you can hold however many you choose to buy of the Premium passes, I had 68 this morning, but will have a lot less by the end of the day, I spend WAY too much on this game.

You can hold up to your max storage for Pokémon, I spent money to upgrade my storage box to 1,000. Pretty much, if it is not good at raid battles, ultra-rare or Shiny, I do not keep it. Mostly I chase after “perfect” Pokémon, like many other in my group, however if they will help me in a raid, I will keep it if it is a higher level.

They also offer a Journal of what you have been doing. As you can see, I took a break from work to go raiding with the group at 2:30pm today, which means my poor life choice of playing this game rather than working will result in me working later this evening rather than sleeping. (Pokémon GO is life!)

This is a Pokémon Gym, I’ve been holding this one down with my Pokémon and my kids Pokémon pretty much for the last 2 years on and Off. The more you visit a gym, you earn a badge and level that up, I’m gold (max level) on pretty much every single one in my city, which is sad. I leave for work 45min sooner than I need to each morning, just to take these over, and earn coins to spend in the game. (I swear I have a life…. It just sounds like I don’t)

Post #1 – Programming Languages

Scratch Reflection
Initially I set out to make a short interactive game for my son Liam to play. The building using Scratch is very straight forward, if I was confused on how to do something, I just watched the video to figure out where I need to go next. I noticed however, since my son cannot read, I had started to create something he will not interact with, and he is still not able to use a mouse, so I decided to change my project to a story. Using the block programing made this very easy, as I was able to still type out to ask questions, and pause for him to think, much like they do in the shows he watches. I just read to him what the Ghost was saying, rather than recording my voice, as that just confused him, and he couldn’t figure out, how I was talking through the ghost. I wanted to create something he could watch and interact with, to see if it could keep his attention and he could finish the short story.
At first, I was going to create two scenarios and allow the choice of YES or NO to help the Ghost get to the Castle, however since he cannot use a mouse, I left the story without the further interaction other than typing in of the name. His name is the only thing he can type now, but this short assignment has given me the goal of creating something he can play in the future, with short commands of Y=Yes and N=No. Since he does recognize some letters, I feel using just those commands in the future would allow him to interact and choose his own path of either helping the Ghost, or not. I was so focused on creating something he would enjoy I kept it very simple but learned a lot. I like that when I make a mistake, unlike the writing of our initials in our book, I can remove or add in what I need, rather than scraping everything and starting over.
I enjoyed the programming experience of Scratch, as I am not familiar with programing so writing a program from complete scratch would have seemed to be an impossible task. With Scratch, everything is broken down neatly into categories and simple blocks, when I want a movement I go to movement, when I want a command or data I go to those categories and choose what I want. There are also preset background and characters to choose from, so I didn’t need to upload anything, draw or really do much of anything other than choose what I wanted the Ghost to do, and how to do it. Python when broken down in our book, seems very straight forward, but I do not think I could create anything now using it, and before this week, I had never even heard of it. I do remember in high school my computer class use C and C++ for an assignment and it also seemed very simple, but I was responsible for other areas of the project, and just learned about it, never used it. I think currectly JavaScript seems to be very popular and used a lot. I know this, as most of the sames my kids play on line use it, most web pages I visit require it, and I hear about it all the time.

Link to my Scratch project - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/227179330/

About Me

My name is Carolann Pickering, I am 30 years old  married with 4 kids. I live just east of Cleveland, Ohio. I am enrolled in school currently to obtain my BS in Information Technology. I have worked in Healthcare IT for the last 10 years, as a clinical analyst, QA specialist, Clinical Educator, and Electronic medical Record implementation specialist. While I love my work, I mainly work contract to contract. Some contracts last a week or two, where as others have lasted three and a half years. I am currently on a contract locally, which means no out of state travel for the next 2 years, which is great! It gives me a chance to finish up my degree and if they like my work, I will then be able to be hired permanently. I have not so far been able to work for a hospital permanently, as I do not have a degree, contractual employees have a different set of rules for education and experience than permanent staff, which has been my reason for going back to school. I used to love the fact that my role was ever changing, and I was always in a new city or state, able to explore and meet a lot of new people, however now that my husband and I have four kids, it is just not working out anymore. Our youngest will be starting preschool in the fall, and so far, he does not do well with me being away for work. I have decided, the best thing for me and my family is to finish up school and find something permeate and not temporary, even if it means a slight pay cut.

I feel I am fairly comfortable with Technology, I work in development often for two different electronic medical record systems. The scope of my role is ever changing, sometimes I work front end with end users, other times I work on the back-end developing and testing new features to assist end users, it just depends on the need of the client, and if they are willing to give me a chance to prove I have the ability and knowledge needed to complete the task at hand. By finishing my schooling, I am hoping to become well rounded in Information Technology and build a great skill set which will make me valuable in my field.